International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 135 (2019) 1063–1072

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Heat transfer performance of the finned nano-enhanced phase change

material system under the inclination influence
Nadezhda S. Bondareva a, Bernardo Buonomo b, Oronzio Manca b,⇑, Mikhail A. Sheremet a,⇑
a
Laboratory on Convective Heat and Mass Transfer, Tomsk State University, 634050 Tomsk, Russia
b
Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi della Campania ‘‘Luigi Vanvitelli”, via Roma 29, 81031 Aversa, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The use of materials such as paraffin is widespread in modern energy industries. The ability to absorb a
Received 7 October 2018 large amount of energy during a phase transition at a constant temperature conditions allows to store
Received in revised form 10 February 2019 and transport the heat. The intensity of melting is related to the thermophysical characteristics of the
Accepted 14 February 2019
material and the geometric parameters of the system. Heat transfer inside the system is carried out
due to the heat conduction, while in the melt the convective heat transfer intensifies the process. In this
paper, a numerical study of heat transfer inside a domain filled with paraffin with nanoparticles and
Keywords:
heated from a source of constant volumetric heat generation is performed. A two-dimensional model
Electronics cooling
Tilted system
of the melting process has been formulated in the dimensionless variables ‘‘stream function–vorticity–
Phase change material temperature”, taking into account the natural convective heat transfer occurring in the melt. The system
Nanoparticles, melting of partial differential equations has been solved using the finite difference method. The simulation has
Natural convection been carried out at different inclination angles of the considered system. Local and integral characteristics
Heat generation source of the melting process at different heating levels of the system have been obtained.
Fins Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Numerical results

1. Introduction
Growth of energy consumption in the modern world is inextri-
cably related to the growth of performance of computer technol-
ogy. In this connection, economical and most effective ways of
transporting and storing energy are required. One way of improv-
ing energy efficiency is the latent heat thermal storage [1–4], this
suggests a using of phase change materials as a chargeable mate-
rial, which can absorb and generate the energy by liquid-solid
phase transition. Various types of phase change materials have
recently found application in the development of solar collectors,
photovoltaic elements and thermal storage of buildings.
In recent years, the problems of cooling and thermal control
have been given great attention in scientific literature [5–8]. Thus,
Hajare et al. [9] conducted experimental studies on solar water
heating system with paraffin wax enhanced by Al2O3 nanoparti-
cles. Intense in heat transfer rate by addition of nanoparticles
was analyzed. Enhancement in the heat transfer due to addition
of nanoparticles is most pronounced in the melt because of parti-
cles movement. Numerical investigation of heat transfer inside
photovoltaic panel based on phase change materials RT25 was car-
⇑ Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: oronzio.manca@unicampania.it (O. Manca), michael-sher@
yandex.ru (M.A. Sheremet).
ried out by Nehari et al. [10]. The influence of inclination of cavity
on the melting process was analyzed. The angle was varied from 0°
(then the system was in horizontal position and was heated from
the top). It was shown that convective mode in the PCM prevails
over conduction at an inclination less than 45°. At horizontal posi-
tion of cavity in melt fraction the natural convection is absent com-
pletely. Mahdi and Nsofor [11] conducted numerical investigation
on heat transfer during solidification of PCM with nanoparticles
inside the triplex tube. The particle volumetric concentration was
varied from 0% to 8%. It was shown that the 8% loading reduces
the solidification time by 20%. In the bottom part the solidification
process is more intensive because of free convective descending
flows of cold melt. Huang et al. [12,13] experimentally and numer-
ically studied of heat transfer in PCM for using in building con-
struction for temperature control in photovoltaic panel. The
convective flows inside the melt allow to increase in heat transfer.
The finning profile from aluminum also enhances heat transfer, but
the fins restrict the circulation of melting material [13]. Tempera-
ture control of PV panel integrated in building was studied exper-
imentally by Sharma et al. [14]. Thermal management was carried
out by using nano-enhanced PCM and aluminum plate with micro-
fins. It was experimentally shown that in the micro-finned system
it is possible to reduce the temperature of aluminum plate by
15.9% by using a pure PCM and by 18.5% by using PCM enhanced
by CuO nanoparticles.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.02.045
0017-9310/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1064 N.S. Bondareva et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 135 (2019) 1063–1072
Nomenclature
a thermal diffusivity, m2 s
1
Bi Biot number, hext H/knm
c specific heat, J K
1 kg
1
d diameter, m
g gravitational acceleration, m s
2
H cavity height, m
h latent energy of melting, J kg
1
hext external overall heat transfer coefficient, W K
1 m
2
k thermal conductivity, W K
1 m
1
kB Boltzmann constant, J K
1
Lm fusion energy or latent heat of melting, J kg
1
n normal ort to the surface
Os Ostrogradsky number, =Q H2/[k (Th
Tm)]
p pressure, Pa
Pr Prandtl number, =l c/k
Q heat transfer rate per unit of volume, W m
3
Ra Rayleigh number, =g b (Th
Tm) H3/(ma)
Ste Stefan number, =Lm/[cf (Th
Tm)]
t time, s
T temperature, K or °C
u, v velocity components in Cartesian coordinate along x
and y, m s
1
U V, dimensionless velocity components,
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi =(u or v)/V0
V0 reference velocity, = gbðT h
T m ÞH, m s
1
Vn velocity component of moving boundary along the
normal direction, m s
1
x, y Cartesian coordinate, m
X, Y dimensionless Cartesian coordinates, = (x or y)/H
Another consequence of increasing energy consumption is the
need to develop high-performance and reliable cooling systems.
Passive cooling in electronic systems can be provided with metal
inserts with a high coefficient of thermal conductivity [15,16].
Using of PCMs in thermal management of electronic devices allows
to design the passive cooling systems in a wide range of power and
dimensions. In recent years many numerical and experimental
studies are devoted to the heat transfer in heat sinks based on
phase change materials [17–20]. Experimental study of n-
eicosane melting inside finned aluminum heat sinks was carried
out by Fok et al. [17]. The experiments were carried out for four
cases, namely, heat sink without PCM, heat sink filled with paraffin
and the heat sinks with three fins and with six fins filled with PCM.
It was shown that the using of PCM allows to slowing increase the
temperature. In the finned heat sink the more intensive heat dissi-
pation was observed. Metal finning profiles of various shapes are
used for cooling of electronic equipment. A metal profiles with
and without fins filled with paraffin were considered. Experimental
study of melting and solidification of n-eicosane in aluminum heat
sink with different amount of fins was carried out by Setoh et al.
[18]. Despite the rapid melting of the material (less than an hour)
under operating conditions of the device from 3 to 5 W, the solid-
ification process takes a much longer time, which is due to the
rather low thermal conductivity of paraffin.
Currently there are not many studies, devoted to behavior of
nano-enhanced phase change materials within cooling systems.
An inclusion of nanoparticles to the material, on one side, increases
the thermal conductivity, on the other side, increases the viscosity
of the melt. Therefore, for a more complete understanding of the
heat transfer process, a multiparameter numerical analysis of the
heat transfer process in a material through simulation of the melt-
ing process and taking into account natural convection in the melt
is necessary. A detailed study of the complex process of interaction
of energy transfer mechanisms is practically impossible to carry
Greek symbols
a inclination angle, °
b coefficient of thermal expansion, K
1
g melting temperature range
H dimensionless temperature, =(T
Tm)/(Th
Tm)
m dynamic viscosity, Pa s
m kinematic viscosity, m2 s
1
U volumetric concentration
q density, kg m
3
s dimensionless time, =t V0/H
w stream function, m2 s
W dimensionless stream function, =w/(V0 H)
x vorticity, s
1
X dimensionless vorticity, =x H/V0
Subscripts
0 initial condition or ambient
1 heat sink
2 heat source
f fluid
m melting
max maximum
nm nano material
np nano particle
s solid
out experimentally, therefore numerical problems of heat transfer
in materials during phase transitions are actual for today [21–24].
The arrangement of PCM heat sinks in various electronic sys-
tems is always related to architecture of the device, because of
the need for thermal insulation of the elements between each
other and the compact arrangement of all elements. Using of
PCM based heat sinks in portable devices is also associated with
changes in the position and tilt of the entire system. In this connec-
tion, there is a necessity to study performance of system at differ-
ent inclination angles. At the same time, an analysis of the
inclination angle effect is necessary for understanding the melting
behavior taking into account various orientation of electronic
systems.
Present work is devoted to the numerical study of the conjugate
heat and mass transfer in a passive cooling system, designed on the
basis of the nano-enhanced phase change material and copper pro-
file with finning. To describe the conjugate heat transfer process,
the transformed dimensionless variables such as stream function,
vorticity and temperature have been used. Numerical analysis of
the complex effect of inclination angle of the system and the con-
centration of nanoparticles on the melting process of paraffin in
conditions of natural convection has been carried out. The present
study is a continuation of the previous analysis [24] to the case of
inclination angle effect. It is well-known that the tilted systems can
be more effective from heat transfer performance point of view
[25–27].
2. Physical and mathematical model
The closed rectangular cavity heated from below from the heat
source of constant volumetric heat generation and cooled from the
top by external convective flows is considered, as reported in Fig. 1.
Inside the cavity the metal profile is adjacent to the heater and the
 N.S. Bondareva et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 135 (2019) 1063–1072 1065

In the heater the source term Q characterizes the intensity of

volumetric heat generation:
!
@T @2T @2T
q2 c2 ¼ k2 þ þQ ð7Þ
@t @x2 @y2
H
The differential equations of heat, momentum and mass trans-
y fer were formulated using the following variables: stream function
w ðu ¼ @w=@y; v ¼
@w=@xÞ and vorticity x ðx ¼ @ v =@x
@u=@yÞ,
x and the non-dimensional equations were obtained using the fol-
lowing variables: X ¼ x=H; Y ¼ y=H; U ¼ u=V 0 ; V ¼ v =V 0 ; V 0 ¼
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
gbðT max
T m ÞH; s ¼ tV 0 =H, H ¼ ðT
T m Þ=ðT max
T m Þ; W ¼ w=ðV 0 HÞ;
X ¼ xH=V 0 .
The Stefan condition on the boundary of the phase transition
describes a jump in enthalpy by the value of the latent energy of

ðqcÞs T; T < Tm;
meltingh ¼
ðqcÞs T m þ qf Lm þ ðqcÞf ðT
T m Þ; T P T m :
To taking into account the latent heat and for combining two
energy equations the smoothing function and auxiliary functions
Fig. 1. Schematic of the model.
fðuÞ and nðuÞ were introduced:
8
>
< 0; T < Tm
g !
remaining space completely filled with phase change material. Side T
ðT m
gÞ ðqs cs Þnm ðqcÞnm ðqs cs Þnm
u¼ 2g
; Tm
g 6 T 6 Tm þ g fðuÞ ¼ þu

and bottom walls are thermally insulated. The initial temperature >
: ðqcÞf ðqcÞf ðqcÞf
1; T > Tm þ g
of the system is equal to the ambient temperature and the paraffin
is solid. It is considered that the mass transfer is only in the liquid and
and the flow is laminar, the buoyancy force is described using the  
ðks Þnm knm ðks Þnm
Boussinesq approximation. nðuÞ ¼ þu

The dimensional equations for the considered heat, mass and kf kf kf
momentum transfer within solid-liquid PCM are written as: The final form of the considered differential equations can be
@u @ v written as:
þ ¼0 ð1Þ
@x @y
@2W @2W
! þ ¼
X ð8Þ
@u @u @u 1 @p lnm @2u @2u @X 2 @Y 2
þu þv ¼
þ þ
@t @x @y qnm @x qnm @x2 @y2
rffiffiffiffiffiffi 2 !
ðqbÞnm @X @X @ X lnm =lf Pr @ X @ 2 X
þ g ðT
T m ÞsinðaÞ ð2Þ þU þV ¼ þ
qnm @s @X @Y qnm =qf Ra @X 2 @Y 2

! ðqbÞnm =ðqbÞf @ H @H
@v @v @v 1 @p lnm @ 2 v @ 2 v þ cosðaÞ
sinðaÞ ð9Þ
þu þv ¼
þ þ qnm =qf @X @Y
@t @x @y qnm @y qnm @x2 @y2
ðqbÞnm  
þ g ðT
T m ÞcosðaÞ ð3Þ @H @H @H q Lnm @u @u @u
qnm fðuÞ þU þV þ nm  Ste  þU þV
@s @X @Y qf Lf @s @X @Y
!
The heat conduction equations can be formulated taking into nðuÞ @ H @ H
2 2

account different region temperature in the following form: ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi þ ð10Þ

Ra  Pr @X 2 @Y 2
!
@T @2T @2T
T < T m : ðqs cs Þnm ¼ ðks Þnm þ ð4Þ !
@t @x2 @y2
@H 1 @2H @2H
¼ a1;0 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi þ ð11Þ
  ! @s Ra  Pr @X 2 @Y 2
@T @T @T @2T @2T
T > T m : ðqcÞnm þu þv ¼ knm þ ð5Þ
@t @x @y @x2 @y2 !
@H 1 @2H @2H
¼ a2;0 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi þ þ Os ð12Þ
The energy equations are closed by the Stefan condition at the
  @s Ra  Pr @X 2 @Y 2
phase change boundary in the form k @T @n
¼
Lm V n , where n is
the normal direction to the interphase and Vn is the velocity com- Initial and boundary conditions have the following form:
ponent of moving boundary along the normal direction.
For the metal profile and for the heat source the properties of – at the initial time: s = 0: H ¼ H0 , W = 0, X = 0;
copper (with subscript 1) and pure silicon for heater element (with – on the left, right and bottom boundaries of the system, the ther-
subscript 2) were established. Heat conduction equations for heat mal insulation conditions are set: @ H=@n ¼ 0,
sink and the heat source were recorded taking into account the – on the top wall the convective condition was set:
properties of these materials. @ H=@YjY¼1 ¼
BiðH
H0 Þ;
! – for the velocity at all solid borders of liquid zone the no-slip
@T @2T @2T condition was formulated: W = 0, X ¼
r2 W;
q1 c1 ¼ k1 þ ð6Þ
@t @x2 @y2
1066 N.S. Bondareva et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 135 (2019) 1063–1072

– equality of heat fluxes between different materials at the con-
tact line of heater and heat sink is @@YH ¼ k2;0 @@YH and at the contact
line of heat sink and PCM @H
¼ k1;0 @@YH.
@Y
The formulated governing equations and corresponding bound-
ary conditions include the following dimensionless parameters:
 
Pr ¼ mðqcÞf =kf ; Ra ¼ gbðT max
T m ÞH3 = maf ; Ste ¼ Lm = cf ðT max
T m Þ ;
Os ¼ QH2 =½k2 ðT max
T m Þ; Bi ¼ hext H=k.
Thermophysical properties of materials used in this study are
presented in Table 1.
In the relationship for thermal conductivity bk ¼
8:4407  ð100UÞ
1:07304 is constant and kB ¼ 1:381  10
23 J=K is the
Boltzmann constant, the function f determines from the following
equation:
T using the Samarskii’s locally one-dimensional scheme, where the
f ðT; UÞ ¼ 2:817  10
2 U þ 3:917  10
3
T0
þ
3:0669  10
2 U
3:91123  10
3
In equations for thermal conductivity the second term is
connected with Brownian motion. Since the properties of the
nano-PCM in each phase are considered constant and
temperature-independent, temperature T in function f(T, U) is set
equal 320 K and T0 = 273 K. This correlation for effective thermal
conductivity was tested for the problem of nano-enhanced paraffin
melting inside the heat storage system [30]. The phase-change line
location at different stages of melting showed a very good agree-
ment with the experimental data. The considered viscosity model
as a function of particles concentration was obtained experimen-
tally for nanofluids containing alumina nanoparticles [29]. It
should be also noted that currently various surfactants, promoting
the dispersion of nano-additives, which provide dispersion
stability for a long time and after a large number of melting and
crystallization cycles exists.
The time-dependent system of governing equations with the
corresponding boundary and initial conditions was solved using
the finite difference method of the second-order accuracy. The
Poisson equation for the stream function W (see Eq. (8)) was
discretized using the central differences for the second partial
derivatives. The obtained difference Poisson equation was solved
by using the successive over relaxation method. The vorticity equa-
tion (see Eq. (9)) and energy equation (see Eq. (10)) were solved
central differences have been used for diffusive terms and Samars-
kii’s monotonic scheme has been employed for discretization of
ð13Þ
convective terms. Fig. 2a presents a comparison of the obtained
results with the experimental data of Gau and Viskanta [31], where
the melting of gallium inside the parallelepiped was investigated.
It should be noted that the performed comparison is in good agree-
ment with experimental results. The developed algorithm has been
also analyzed for different grids. The size of the time step varied
from 0.0011 to 0.00003, the grid size from 240  100 to
600  300 (Fig. 2b). All further simulations were carried out on

Table 1
Properties of considered materials.

Properties of the PCM Nanoparticles Heat sink Heater NePCM [28,29]

considered materials
Solid Liquid
n-Octadecane Al2O3 (d = 5910
9 m) Copper Silicon
(Tm = 28.05 °C)
knp þ2kf
2ðkf
knp ÞU
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
k, W/(mK) 0.39 0.157 36 401 148
knm ¼ knp þ2kf þðkf
knp ÞU
kf þ 5  104 bk UðqcÞf q dnp f ðT; UÞ
kB T
np

c, J/(kgK) 1900 2200 765 385 714 cnm ¼ ðqcÞnm =qnm

ðqcÞnm ¼ ð1
UÞðqcÞf þ UðqcÞnp
l, Ns/m2 – 3.810
3 – – – lnm ¼ 0:983e12:959U lf
q, kg/m3 814 770 3600 8900 2330 qnm ¼ ð1
UÞqf þ Uqnp
b, K
1 – 8.510
4 7.810
6 – – ðqbÞnm ¼ ð1
UÞðqbÞf þ UðqbÞnp
Lm, J/kg 2.41105 – – – Lnm ¼ ð1
UÞqf Lm =qnm

Fig. 2. (a) – Comparison of phase-change line location between experimental data (dotted line) [31] and obtained results (solid line); (b) – the phase-change line location at
the time moments s = 212.2 and s = 381.78 for Ra = 1.19106, Os = 0.028, U = 0.04 and different grids.
 N.S. Bondareva et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 135 (2019) 1063–1072
the grid 480  200 with a dimensionless time step equal 0.0003.
Thus, this algorithm showed good performance.
3. Results and discussions
In general the phase change materials like paraffin, have a low
thermal conductivity and the melt agitation permits to intensify
the heat transfer. Therefore, natural convection has a significant
role in melting process in a macrovolumes with measurable tem-
perature differences. The melt agitation is of great importance in
the heat transfer from the heater to the interphase at large dis-
tances between these boundaries. However, the position of the
heating element, intensity of heat generation and the size of con-
sidered system have a great influence on the development of the
convective mode in the melt. When the entire system is tilted,
the position of the heater is changed and accordingly the ratio
between convective heat transfer and heat conduction can be
changed also [27–29].
The addition of the nanoparticles with high thermal conductiv-
ity is a way to increase the heat transfer rate in paraffin. At the
same time, the expedience of using of nano-enhanced paraffin
associated with a growth of the viscosity of this suspension.
The present investigation includes detailed numerical analysis
of complex influence of such parameters as intensity of natural
convective heat transfer, inclination of the system and the concen-
tration of nanoparticles in paraffin on the heat dissipation quality
of the passive cooling system. The Rayleigh number varied in the
range between 1.49105 and 9.52106, the inclination angle a
Fig. 3. Isotherms (a, c) and streamlines (b, d) for Ra = 149000 at s = 933.24 for different inclination angles, while (a, b) are for U = 0 and (c, d) are for U = 0.03.
1067
ranged from 0 to p and the loadings of nanoparticles U varied from
0 to 0.06.
The intensity of convective heat transfer can be determined by
the Rayleigh number. Other factors affecting the occurrence of
thermogravitational flows in this problem are the size of melt
region, temperature of the heater which are time-dependent and
increase with time.
At small Rayleigh numbers the natural convection is weak com-
pared to the thermal conductivity. In such modes of heat transfer,
the thermal conductivity of the material plays an important role.
Therefore, the melting rate will strongly depend on the percentage
of nanoparticles in the paraffin. Fig. 3 shows isotherms and stream-
lines at Ra = 1.49105 and different cavity inclination angles for a
fixed time s = 933.24. Despite a significant rebuilding of the flow,
the isotherms have a similar structure for different directions
of the gravity vector. The difference can be explained by the fact that
the weak ascending streams of the heated liquid promote heating
and faster melting in the upper part of the region. Therefore, the
most intense melting is observed when a = 0°. The boundary of
the phase transition has a wavy form with vertices above the edges.
Also, a weak circulation helps to cool the space between the edges
and thicken the isotherms, in contrast to the case of a = 180° in
which the liquid over the heat sink overheats more strongly by
reducing the flow rates. At Ra = 1.49105, the addition of nanoparti-
cles to the paraffin contributes to a decrease in the time for com-
plete melting (see Table 2) for all the considered cavity inclination
angles. Taking into account these data, it can be concluded that at
small Rayleigh numbers the addition of particles promotes rapid
heat transfer inside the material and the melting process.
1068 N.S. Bondareva et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 135 (2019) 1063–1072
Table 2
Dimensionless time needed for the complete melting at different values of Ra, U and a.
Ra U a
0 45
1.49105 0 1203.95 1284.11
0.03 1166.96 1264.55
0.06 1134.88 1228.47
1.19106 0 2366.85 2971.6
0.03 2414.67 3015.63
0.06 2515.68 2996.61
9.52106 0 5181.2 6148.7
0.03 5768.2 6284.8
0.06 5817.1 6317.8
Moreover, the addition of nanoparticles has practically no effect
on the flow structure, so the isotherms and isolines of the stream
function have a similar structure, although the maximum value
of the stream function is reduced to 40%.
As it has been shown, natural convection plays an important
role in heat transfer and the melting behavior of the material. In
this connection, the direction of the gravitational vector plays an
equally important role. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze an
influence of inclination angle of the whole system on the thermal
processes occurring within the system.
Fig. 4 presents the isotherms and streamlines at different incli-
nation angles of the cavity and different percentages of nanopar-
ticles inside paraffin at Ra = 9.52106. It is obvious that in the
transition from the horizontal position, when the heat source is
at the bottom, the melting rate decreases. In the considered range
of U, it can be seen that at a fixed time s = 5090.4 the maximum
inclination angle reflects weak melting of the paraffin. At a = 0, an
insignificant amount of solid material is remained in the upper
corners of the paraffin area. Thermal plumes from the middle ribs
are directed vertically upward and vortices are drawn along the
fins of the heat sink, from the side fins the heated liquid descends
along the descending flow from the neighboring vorticity, the
thermal and hydrodynamic patterns are observed symmetrically.
At the same time, when the area is tilted by p/2 an absolute
change in the structure of the flow in the melt is observed.
Heated melt flows are directed to the right side wall along the
heat sink surface. A cold descending flow is observed along the
phase-transition line. Recirculation zones are formed between
the ribs closer to the melt boundary. It can be seen from
Fig. 4b that, due to convective heat transfer, the right-hand side
of the region heats up faster and the boundary of the phase tran-
sition in the right-hand side of reached the upper cooling wall,
while in the left part of the cavity the boundary moves more
slowly, which is a consequence of the motion of the cooled melt,
the temperature of which is close to the phase changing temper-
ature. It should be also noted that the most heated zone in the
metal heat sink expands to the right, due to a more intense heat-
ing of the right side of the area.
Fig. 5 shows the average Nusselt number on the profile surface
and the relative volume of the melt as a function of time for various
inclination angles of the cavity and nanoparticle concentration at
Ra = 1.19106. From the graph of the average Nusselt number, it
can be seen that the process of heating the system and melting
the NePCM is complex and involves several stages. At the same
time, it should be noted that at the initial stage of heating
s  1000 the Nu and Vliq do not depend on the angle of inclination
of the cavity and the graphs are coincided. During the heating of
the profile to the temperature Tf and during the phase transition
on the surface of the profile the Nu plot shows that the dashed line
corresponding to the largest particle concentration is below the
solid line corresponding to the pure paraffin. In comparison, for
90 135 180
1442.86 1543.19 1252.71
1351.4 1352.6 1169.66
1270.50 1231.82 1121.24
3498 4448.43 3477.84
3471.18 4274.73 3258.03
3480.9 4144.47 3132.93
7866 11251.4 9594.8
7925.8 10869.9 8999
8017.1 10714.5 8655.2
example, on a time interval of a sharp jump in the heat transfer
coefficient at the point s = 321.54, the Nusselt number in pure
paraffin reaches a value of 1, while at U = 0.06 Nu = 0.8804. This
difference becomes clearly visible when the melting boundary
moves away from the metal surface and the heat transfer coeffi-
cient ceases to increase sharply. At this stage it can be seen that
the graphs slowly decrease, due to warming up melted paraffin
on the surface due to thermal conduction. Thermal conductivity
increases with increasing U, therefore the temperature gradient
on the surface of the heat sink is lower than in the case of pure
paraffin. Taking into account that convection appears with an
expansion of the melt region and at the initial stage the convective
heat transfer is very weak, the direction of the gravitational force
vector has practically no effect on heat transfer. In this regard,
the slope angle does not affect the heat transfer and the Nusselt
number and Vliq graphs practically coincide or differ insignificantly
for Vliq  0.5.
With the appearance and development of convective flows in
the melt, the angle of inclination of the cavity begins to play an
important role in relation to the movement of the energy source.
When the area is heated from below (a = 0, black lines), as
expected, convection will develop more intensively and the heat
flux on the surface of the profile will increase. In the inverted posi-
tion at a = 180, as one would expect, convection practically disap-
pears, since the energy source is in the upper part of the system
above the cavity with the heat sink and paraffin. Heat transfer is
carried out mainly due to heat conduction. One of the conse-
quences is a strong heating of paraffin between the fins, where
the isotherms are stretched horizontally, in connection with this,
the temperature gradient is significantly reduced. Melt circulation
emerging because of the heating vertically standing ribs is very
weak and the intensity of heat exchange between the profile and
paraffin significantly decreases. As a consequence, the melting rate
is significantly reduced. It should be also noted the effect of the
volume fraction of nanoparticles at different angles of the cavity
presented in Table 2.
From Table 2 it is seen that for Ra = 1.19106 and Ra = 9.52106
the longest melting is observed at an inclination angle a = 135°,
and in the cases of 90 and 180° the time of complete melting differs
not strongly and in some cases the paraffin melts longer at 90°.
This is due to the peculiarity of the formed hydrodynamic struc-
tures and the presence of a cooling wall. In the case where the
energy source is on top, the cooling wall is located horizontally
below and since the circulation of the melt is practically absent,
the cooling occurs evenly along the entire perimeter of the wall,
which is in contact with the environment. In the case of an inclina-
tion of 90 and 135°, the cold descending flow is formed along the
wall in contact with the external environment. Cooling harder,
the liquid descends into the lower corner. Thus, paraffin in this cor-
ner melts much more slowly, which is the reason for a significant
increase in the melting time.
 N.S. Bondareva et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 135 (2019) 1063–1072 1069

Fig. 4. Isotherms and streamlines for Ra = 9.52106 at s = 5090.4 for different inclination angles a (a) – U = 0; (b) – U = 0.03 and (c) – U = 0.06.

Fig. 5. Average Nusselt number and liquid volume fraction at Ra = 1.19106 for different inclination angles depending of nanoparticles concentration.
1070 N.S. Bondareva et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 135 (2019) 1063–1072

Fig. 6 shows the isotherms for different angles of inclination of that in paraffin without the addition of particles the more intense
the cavity at Ra = 1.19106 and s = 2121. Typical ascending streams ascending streams warm up the upper part of the region, and the
from heated ribs are observed at a = 0, in this case it is clearly seen downstream flows promote the cooling of the interplanar areas

Fig. 6. Temperature fields and streamlines for Ra = 1.19106 at s = 2121 for different inclination angles and nanoparticles concentrations U varied from 0 to 0.06 (a) – a = 0;
(b) – a = 45; (c) – a = 90; (d) – a = 135.
 N.S. Bondareva et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 135 (2019) 1063–1072
and, as a result, an increase in the heat transfer coefficient from the
plate. The addition of particles leads to an increase in viscosity and,
with the horizontal position of the cavity, it is seen that the weak-
ening of natural convective currents leads to overheating of the
regions around the profile and a decrease in the heat transfer coef-
ficient. As a consequence, the process of melting is slower than in
pure paraffin. In contrast to the case with a small Rayleigh number,
in the case when convection in the melt plays a significant role in
heat transfer, the inclination angle determines the heat and mass
transfer regime and the efficiency of the system. When the cavity
is tilted by an angle a = 45, the melt descends along the melting
front, and one major vortex is formed between each of the adjacent
edges, while heating, the liquid rises along the right edge and the
descending flow occurs along the left edge. The displacement of
the upward-downward currents and the transition from the two-
vortex circulation to the one-vortex in each compartment leads to
the fact that the paraffin warms up more with increasing the slope
of the region. The decrease in heat transfer occurs mainly in the
lower part of the profile. Despite the increase in the maximum
value of the stream function, compared with a = 0, the total melting
time is increased. Also note the formation of small recirculation
currents at a = 45 and U = 0, which also increase the overheating
of these zones. A further rise of the inclination angle leads to an
even greater overheating of the surface of the profile, since vortices
merge and the velocity of the convective currents decreases.
4. Conclusions
In this paper a detailed numerical analysis of time-dependent
melting of paraffin, enhanced by Al2O3 nanoparticles, in a passive
cooling system was carried out. The main attention was paid to
the effect of both the system inclination angle and the nanoparti-
cles concentration on melting at different intensities of convective
heat and mass transfer. The velocity and temperature distributions
are obtained, as well as the curves for the average Nusselt number
and the volume of the melt as a function of time.
As a result of detailed analysis it was shown that at small Ray-
leigh numbers, the addition of nanoparticles to paraffin does not
have the significant effect on the hydrodynamic structures in the
melt, but the velocities in the melt are significantly reduced. In
connection with the dominance of heat conduction as the main
mechanism of heat transfer, an increase in the viscosity of the melt
caused by the addition of particles does not greatly affect the melt-
ing intensity. It can be concluded that the addition of nanoparticles
makes it possible to accelerate the process of heat exchange within
the system and to reduce the time for complete melting of paraffin
at any inclination of the cavity. Depending on the direction of the
buoyancy force vector and the intensity of convective heat transfer,
nanoparticles can accelerate the melting process or slow down. For
large Rayleigh numbers, convective flows have the significant
impact on heat and mass transfer, therefore change in melt viscos-
ity with the addition of particles reduces the rates of natural con-
vective flows and leads to overheating of the paraffin near the
surface of the slab and, as a result, to a decrease in the heat transfer
coefficient at the heat sink surface. Therefore, for small inclinations
of the cavity, when convective heat transfer dominates, an increase
in the nanoparticles volume fraction leads to an increase in the
melting time. A change in the angle of inclination of more than
90° is associated with the movement of the source to the upper
part of the region, so the flows are weaker and NePCM melts faster
than the pure paraffin.
Conflict of interest
The authors declared that there is no conflict of interest.
1071
Acknowledgement
This work was conducted as a government task of the Ministry
of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Project Num-
ber 13.9724.2017/8.9). The authors also wish to express their
thank to the very competent Reviewers for the valuable comments
and suggestions.
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2019.02.045.
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